James Holman

“ This opposition to our progress would be of no moment, if the barbarous notions of the people were not favoured by the repulsive nature of the climate, which is even more pernicious than we originally believed when we ventured to form a British settlement within its range. It is so unpropitious to European life that the pestilential breath of death may be said to lurk in every calm, and to be wafted in every gale. ”

“ Of the surviving edifices at Rome, the principal is the Pantheon itself. It still retains its majestic portico, and presents its graceful dome uninjured; the pavement laid by Agrippa and trodden by Augustus, still forms its floor; the compartments, and fluted pillars of rich marble, [187] that originally lined its walls, still adorn its inward circumference; the deep tints that age has thrown over it, only contribute to raise our dignity and augment our veneration ”

“ If the example of the colony of Liberia were to be followed, if wholesome laws were laid down to regulate the movements of emigrants, and proper precautions taken, by which all the advantages of position might be seized, and the disadvantages avoided, I have very little doubt that colonization would ultimately prove a valuable safety-valve for society. The idle and wretched, who have no hopes or friends at home, might always be thus beneficially drafted off to infant states, where they could be made to labour, and where their recovered habits could be rendered subservient to the common good. ”

“ After a most delightful walk, enhanced by the fineness of the day, we reached the palace of Caserta, said to be the largest royal residence in Europe, and which we found a truly noble and magnificent structure. The building comprises nearly a square, and as the kitchens and offices are under-ground, there is as much contained beneath, as above the surface. After passing through a magnificent hall, we ascended a marble staircase, fine without a parallel, the massy balustrade composed of the richest workmanship, and of the whitest marble, said to be taken from an ancient temple near Naples. ”

“ The remains of this town afford a truly interesting spectacle. It is like a resurrection from the dead; the progress of time and decay is arrested, and you are admitted to the temples, the theatres, and the domestic privacy of a people, who have ceased to exist for seventeen centuries. Nothing is wanting but the inhabitants: still, a [225] morning’s walk through the silent streets of Pompeii, will give you a livelier idea of their modes of life, than all the books in the world. ”

“ The poor fellows who thus risked a passage through the flames, that now curled up fearfully, and swept the whole surface of the vessel, were dreadfully burned, and looked more like demons than men. But, at last, after much difficulty, they succeeded in lowering the boat into the sea. Those, however, who got in first, seeing that the whole crew must inevitably perish if they suffered a greater number to crowd the boat than she could with safety contain, pushed off from the ship as speedily as they could. If they had yielded to the impulse of their feelings, every soul must have perished ”

“ It must always continue to be a matter of surprise and regret, that a country which expended so much blood on the purchase of its independence, should sanction within its boundary the existence of slavery as a legal right. The ermine is said to die if a single stain fall on its spotless skin, and one would suppose that the giant republic of the new world would be equally susceptible throughout her mighty frame of the taint of slavery; but, perhaps, there is a fine moral in the fact, to shew us that the works of man, even in his most elevated inspirations, must of necessity be imperfect. ”

“ The prospect of the surrounding country, and objects from the summit of this tower, is grand and very extensive; it includes the whole city, and the luxuriant plain of Milan; shews its intersection in every part, with rivers and canals, its beautiful display of gardens, orchards, vineyards, and groves; and its numerous and interesting villages and towns; and extends to the neighbouring Alps, which unite their bleak ridges with the milder, and more distant Appennines, and seem to compose a grand and natural frame, to this picture of beauty and interest. ”

“ The feelings and sympathies which pervade my breast, when in the presence of an amiable and interesting female, are such as never could have been suggested by viewing a mere surface of coloured clay, however shaped into beauty, or however animated by feeling and expression. The intelligence still allowed me by a beneficent Providence, is amply sufficient to apprise me of the existence of the more real—the diviner beauties of the soul ”

“ After travelling five or six miles, we crossed the barriers between the Roman and Neapolitan states, where our passports were examined by the commandant of a small fort placed there. After this, the country expands itself into the vale of Fondi, the mountains retiring in such way, as to form a beautiful amphitheatre, richly clothed with luxuriant and diversified woods. Our road passed through the middle of this vale; a fine lake formed by the waters of innumerable mountain streams, which run through the plain, bounding it on the right,—beyond which lay the sea. ”

“ The Society has hitherto endeavoured, as far as its powers would permit, to extend the principle of colonization, by removing, invariably, with their own consent, such slaves as have the good fortune to obtain their freedom, to a spot where they were not only free from competition with the white population, but where their education, imperfect as it might have been, rendered them the superior instead of the inferior class: thus silently promoting the blessings of Christianity and civilization amongst the native tribes. ”

“ I selected Nice for my winter’s residence, and on the 14th of September left Aix in the diligence, for Antibes, taking leave of the last town in France, where I proposed making any extended residence.
It is not easy to describe my emotions in quitting a people, with whose language and habits I was now becoming well acquainted, and to whom I felt a degree of attachment, grounded, if not upon congeniality of sentiment, at least upon a grateful sense of repeated acts of kindness, and attention, which I had experienced from them. ”

“ All our attempts to penetrate into Africa, to establish a friendly intercourse with the people, and to abolish the traffic in human life are repelled, and frequently rendered abortive, by the fatal influence of the climate, and the obstinate resistance of the natives to our projects of liberty, which they oppose because they derive a lucrative source of income from the slave-trade, while habit has made them insensible to its ignominies and miseries. ”

“ I was much pleased with the situation of this trattoria’s house. It stands by the sea-side, in that part of Naples termed Santa Lucia; there is a room built directly over the sea, where one not only enjoys the refreshing breeze, but also the additional cooling sensation of the waves under-foot. The entertainment of the house is excellently good, and after taking refreshment, it is delightful [202] to walk by the sea-side, or a boat may be had to sail upon the bay if it is preferred. ”

“ But that law is perverted by those who resist emigration under the circumstances to which I have alluded. What is to become of the surplus population, if it be not allowed a space wherein to fertilize the virgin soil, and supply its wants? If its own land denies it the means of life, must it die, that some philosopher may triumph in his doctrines?
It is very true that colonization frequently terminates disastrously, and that instances might be cited, in which emigrants have suffered terrible privations, and have even fallen beneath the insalubrity of unaccustomed climates. ”

“ Being desirous of reaching England, before the equinoctial gales might come on, on the 12th of September I took my place for Ghent, in one of the many coaches that go daily to that city; after an early dinner, I left Brussels at half past two o’clock, occupying the same seat with an English [364] gentleman and his dog; the middle seat was taken up by a Dutch captain, from Batavia, with a parrot and dog; while a pair of monkies belonging to him, enjoyed the fresh air on the roof, and amused the people as they passed along. ”

“ At the same time, I am not insensible to the fact, that all Europeans are more or less susceptible of those disorders which are prevalent within the Tropics; especially on the western coast of Africa, in Batavia, Trincomalee, and different parts of the West Indies; but it is equally certain that fear is a great predisposing cause of disease, and that the despondency to which most persons give way while they are under the influence of its effects, increases the mortality to a considerable extent. ”

“ Florence is said to owe its origin to a Roman colony, composed of selected veterans from Cæsar’s legions; but in its modern state, you would scarcely imagine it the offspring of the camp; for its whole appearance bespeaks gentility, and its inhabitants are possessed of so courteous an air, that we cannot wonder it should be selected by our countrymen, as a residence preferable to every other in Italy. The society, both among the natives and foreigners is excellent; and the city abounds with literary institutions, and museums of natural history, and the fine arts. ”

“ I can well understand, that a simple people, whose experience is limited to their own habits, and who have never had an opportunity of inter-mixing with other nations, must have been startled by the novelty of a beard; but their astonishment at the sight of a board, was not greater than mine, on discovering that they were destitute of an appendage, which, in the torid zone, is at once an article of luxury and utility. The people of the East invariably wear beards, not merely as a national custom, but as a matter of necessity ”

“ We left Milan on Tuesday, July the 11th, early in the morning of a very fine day, in the largest, and most elegant voiture which I had met with in France or Italy, having only two companions; one, a lady with her lap-dog, who, although she was not very young, was witty and amusing; the other, a singular character of a Frenchman, an ex-colonel of the army of Bonaparte, and who amused us by his eccentricities. He had fought in the battle of Waterloo, and afterwards, been deprived of his pension and half pay, as well as for a time banished the kingdom. ”

“ The picturesque in nature, it is true, is shut out from me, and works of art are to me mere outlines of beauty, accessible only to one sense; but perhaps this very circumstance affords a stronger zest to curiosity, which is thus impelled to a more close and searching examination of details than would be considered necessary to a traveller who might satisfy himself by the superficial view, and rest content with the first impressions conveyed through the eye. ”

“ Instead of a large frigate, with a Commodore's Pennant, we might have a first class flush-deck sloop of war, built principally for fast sailing, with a distinguished young Post Captain to command her; for activity and experience on this coast are more wanted than large ships and officers of high rank, as there is not much diplomatic business to be carried on with the African nations. It may also be observed that it is a very safe coast to navigate, for if you will but sound in time, you may always be apprized of danger soon enough to avoid it. ”

“ There is a canal encircling the town, and forming it into a kind of island, planted with trees, and which runs to Willibrook, a village on the Scheldt, at the distance of fifteen miles; along the banks of this canal lies an excellent road, shaded with four rows of trees on each side, upon which the ladies of Brussels take the air in their carriages. The treckschuyts pass by this canal from Brussels to Antwerp, twice every day.
The great market-place is one of the most beautiful squares in Europe. One side is occupied by the Stadt-house. ”

“ The formation of a new settlement amongst an uncivilized people must always be an event of interest, whether we regard it in a political or moral point of view, as extending the power of the parent nation, or spreading the advantages of improvement in regions hitherto sunk in the darkness of barbaric ignorance. The objects proposed by the British Government in establishing a colony at Fernando Po appear to have been three-fold, and not less connected with political than moral results. ”

“ Capua is a small unimportant town, distinct from the ancient city of that name, which was situated at some distance, where remains of an amphitheatre are still visible, and which before the building of that of Vespasian, was considered superior to any in Rome itself; indeed old Capua is said, at one time, to have vied with Rome and Carthage themselves, in size and magnificence. It was here that the victorious army of Hannibal, is said to have been enervated by the luxuries of Italy. ”